Incidents Lead Benton County To Uniform, Credit Card Policy

BENTONVILLE -- Three Benton County Sheriff's Office executive assistants used county credit cards in January and February 2013 to buy more than $1,800 in clothing for themselves at stores including Dillard's, Kohl's and Belk.

Top Sheriff Office administrators also bought clothing, including pants and suits from Men's Wearhouse, during the first few months of 2013, according to credit card receipts and records submitted for reimbursement. Sheriff's Office employees spent $13,848 on clothes on Jan. 18 alone, according to county records.

The spending prompted the Quorum Court to adopt a new clothing allowance policy for nonuniformed employees, which retroactively paid for some purchases. The new policy covered detectives and investigators because the Sheriff's Office already provides uniforms for deputies and jailers, officials said.

The clothing policy states, in part, the clothing allowance is attached to a particular position and "will only be considered for specific positions and amounts, not as a gross amount for departments to allocate on a discretionary basis."

Under the policy, most clothes must contain a county logo unless they are for certain positions, such as undercover investigators, said Sheriff Kelley Cradduck.

The justices of the peace also created a countywide credit card policy in response to the purchases. Several justices of the peace said they knew about the Benton County Sheriff's Office credit cards being used for clothing at the time, but because Cradduck gave his employees permission to use the cards, there was no intentional harm.

The three office employees were asked to reimburse the county, said Mike Crandall, accounting manager. The Accounting Department approved all the other purchases, said Connie Guild, senior accountant at the county.

"This was just a simple mistake," Cradduck said July 9. "It was a mistake quickly rectified and taken care of."

Shirley Sandlin, District 8 justice of the peace, said the Quorum Court cut Cradduck some slack in 2013 because he was a new sheriff. Cradduck said his predecessor, Keith Ferguson, didn't aid his transition into the office before he took over on Jan. 1, 2013.

The clothing purchases were a "gray area" because the county didn't have a written credit card policy at the time, said Kurt Moore of District 13. Without policy guidance, justices of the peace felt it was proper to allow the three office employees to reimburse the county, Moore said.

Tosha Angel, who left the Sheriff's Office last year, and Megan Rutledge and Miranda Boothe sent Visa a total of $1,822 in March 2013 to pay for their part of the bill, Guild said.

Keshia Guyll, Sheriff's Office spokeswoman, didn't respond to two email messages, a phone call and a text message asking for a comment from Rutledge and Boothe. None of the women responded to queries left Thursday on Facebook, a social media website.

The Quorum Court did the right thing when it created a clothing allowance for the Sheriff's Office and other county departments that qualify, said Kevin Harrison of District 5.

"For people to think it's not fair, I challenge them," Harrison said. "You have to look at what the job description is and what is required of them. To have the level of service we have and the professionals we have in Benton County, I don't have a problem with covering some uniform expenses. I don't have a problem with that at all."

Detectives and others are likely to ruin their clothes while on duty, Cradduck said. He wants his employees to look professional, including the assistants whom he told to buy the clothes, he said.

The Quorum Court decided the Sheriff's Office needed money specifically to make sure employees "stay looking good for Benton County," Sandlin said.

Cradduck also has looked for ways to save the county money and make the department more efficient, Harrison said.

Asset seizures at the Sheriff's Office went from $15,683 in 2012 to $116,710 during the first half of 2013, according to a report Cradduck gave the Quorum Court last year. The jail upgraded its inmate phone system so the county is guaranteed $170,000 a year, regardless of inmate population. For the first time, Cradduck also charged for fingerprinting, which is expected to bring in thousands of dollars every year, according to Cradduck's 2013 report.

The office also started a profitable jail commissary last year.

Only the Benton County Sheriff's Office asked for the clothing allowance last year, said Barbara Ludwig, county human resources manager. The summer of 2013, the Quorum Court approved 33 positions, including Cradduck and Chief Deputy Rob Holly, to receive clothing money attached to their pay checks. Most positions received $800 with the total coming to $22,806, according to county records.

Most of the new expense in 2013 was covered by moving money from the regular uniform allowance for deputies into a fund for clothing for administrators, Crandall said. Those who receive the benefit must pay taxes on the money, he said.

Cradduck said other police departments have uniform allowances -- some, including Rogers, are for about $1,000 per officer per year.

A 2013 report compiled by the Rogers Police Department showed incentives, salaries and clothing benefits local law enforcement agencies receive. The report was presented to justices of the peace last year, but it included wrong information on the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

The Washington County Sheriff's Office doesn't have a clothing allowance, spokeswoman Kelly Cantrell said. The fund was cut to save money, she said, and the Sheriff's Office hasn't had a fund in about 15 years, according to Washington County records.

Harrison and Moore said the flaw in the report probably wouldn't have changed their votes, but Sandlin said that knowledge may have changed hers. The misinformation also bothered Tom Allen of District 4, he said. Partly, he voted for the allowance because he thought it was typical among other law enforcement agencies, he said.

The Arkansas Sheriffs' Association doesn't track how many sheriff's offices statewide have clothing allowances for top administrators, said Ronnie Baldwin, executive director.

Cradduck cut the amount he said administrators need for clothing by about half and scaled back the number of positions who have the benefit for the 2014 budget, according to county records. This year, 31 jail and Sheriff's Office employees earn a clothing allowance with $11,196 going to Sheriff's Office employees and $2,153 going to jail employees, records show.

Cradduck said he scaled back the clothing allowance because he wanted to help save money for the county.

Four other departments -- including Emergency Services and the Juvenile Detention Center -- asked for an allotment for seven people this year. That includes $431 per year for Marshal Watson, public safety administrator, Denyse Collins, juvenile center manager and Michael DeRose, emergency management director.

The new departments originally requested $800 per person per year, like Cradduck did last year, but they dropped the amount to $431 per person after hearing Cradduck had reduced his request, Ludwig said. This year, taxpayers are paying $16,366 for clothing, according to documents from Crandall. That amount doesn't include money for Sheriff's Office deputy uniforms, which is budgeted for $65,000.

The budgeting process for next year will begin in the next few months, Crandall said. Guyll said Cradduck hasn't decided what he will request concerning the clothing allowance.

"We don't ask for anything we don't need," Cradduck said. "Unfortunately, law enforcement takes quite a bit of money to make sure we have the amount of equipment we need and the number of people we need to make sure people are safe."